Are you a fan of science fiction movies? If you are then you might have seen the new trailer for Ghost in the Shell.
The movie follows a cyborg counter-cyberterrorist field commander named “The Major” and her task force Section 9. They go on missions to stop cyber criminals and hackers.
Did you know that Ghost in the Shell wasn’t always a live action Hollywood movie? The upcoming movie is based off the manga, opens a new window and anime, opens a new window series of the same name. Both feature futuristic cyber punk worlds, and explore deep themes of the meaning of consciousness and identity.
The most famous version of Ghost in the Shell is the 1991 anime film.
Ghost in the Shell
The anime film was followed by multiple anime TV series and you can watch many of them free on the Hoopla app with your San Mateo County library card.
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Ghost in the Shell Season 1, Stand Alone Complex
Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex. The Laughing Man
If you’re looking for some more philosophical cyber-punk to watch and read then look no further. The library has you covered. Try out these picks.
Appleseed
This movie is set in a war torn cyber-future where humans fight machines. It follows Deunan and her cyborg boyfriend who must retrieve the “Appleseed” to save humanity.
Ex Machina
In this film a young computer coder is invited to spend a weekend with his reclusive boss, the CEO of a successful internet company. Only to find he’s being recruited as part of an experiment with a new artificial intelligence, in the form of a beautiful woman.
Neuromancer
This classic science fiction novel is one of the first novel to be called “cyberpunk, opens a new window." And it predicted many ways the internet and technology would permeate modern life (The Guardian article, opens a new window and PC World article, opens a new window. In Neuromancer, Case, a burned-out computer whiz, is asked to steal a security code that is locked in the most heavily guarded databank in the solar system.
Blade Runner
The 1982 cyberpunk classic stars Harrison Ford as a “blade runner” who hunts down human-like androids called replicants. This is getting the reboot treatment just like Ghost in the Shell. Keep an eye out for the upcoming film, opens a new window starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. Make sure you watch the original movie first. Check it out from the library.
Ergo Proxy
A different flavor of cyber-future anime. In Ergo Proxy the domed city of Romdo is an impenetrable would-be utopia where humans and robots coexist, and everything is under complete governmental control-- or so it appears.
Paprika
Paprika is a strange, colorful, trippy movie. The plot revolves around a machine that allows scientists to enter and record a person’s dream. When the machine is stolen, a detective and a therapist join forces to recover the machine before it falls into the hands of a “dream terrorist”
Elysium
Another cyberpunk future with a dystopian twist. The world is divided into two people, the very rich who live above the earth in a beautiful orbiting space station, and the poor who live on the devastated, overpopulated earth. Matt Damon stars as Max an earth dweller who takes drastic steps to change the world.
Are you looking forward to Ghost in the Shell? What's your favorite book to movie adaptation? Let us know in the comments.
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